Tantalizing Obscuration
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: AU. Takes place after 'Sweet Surrender.' Kawachi Kyosuke had no idea where the heck he was, really.


**Author note: I don't own Yakitate! Japan. Nor do I own the composition 'Night Mist' by Adrian von Ziegler, which inspired this into being. Nor do I own RainyMood, which also helped inspire this.**

**This takes place after the oneshot 'Sweet Surrender,' so you might want to read that before you read this one to make sense of what's going on.**

**Warning: AU, mentioned violence, crossdressing, mentioned drug use, Wonderland!Monica, Wonderland!Shachihoko, Wonderland!Meister, implied Wonderland!MeisterxMeister Kirisaki**

**Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope you guys read, review and enjoy! Thanks!**

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_**Tantalizing Obscurtaion**_

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Kawachi Kyosuke had no idea where the heck he was, really.

All he remembered from before waking up in this decent-sized, plain-looking bedroom (plain looking except for brown _(paint?) _stains on the walls of the room) was a tea party. Someone that looked like Monica and wore a small top hat, offering him tea...There was someone that looked an awful lot like Shachihoko, too! Wait, but this one had rabbit ears and stuff...and he seemed a _lot_ creepier than the regular Shachihoko, for sure.

Tea parties...mad hatters...creepy rabbits. This reminded Kawachi of some Alice-in-Wonderland-esque kind of thing. But...where was Alice, then? That question hung in his mind as he sat up on the bed that he'd woken up on.

That was answered for him as soon as he heard the sound of someone else breathing in the room.

Kawachi slowly, cautiously turned to see a figure with long blond hair that tumbled far past the should, sprawled out on a bed. The slim-looking figure wore a silk dress of the lightest shade of blue, and was barefoot. The figure's face was not facing Kawachi, but he swore that he heard soft sobs coming from the figure, muffled by the pillow that the figure's face was buried in.

Kawachi did a double take. This wasn't just any sort of random person trying to cosplay Alice. No, it was...

"Meister-han?"

The figure went still as soon as Kawachi spoke up. The teen stood, and slowly approached the figure until he stood by the bed the figure that he was sure was Meister was lying on.

"Are..." Kawachi hesitated before blurting out, "Are you alright?"

A pale and tear-filled face, unmasked and unfamiliar to Kawachi, looked up at him with ruined mascara and blush on it, as well as smudged, pale pink lipstick. But when the mouth moved, Kawachi knew it was him.

"Do you actually think I'm _alright?" _Meister asked hoarsely, biting back another sob. Kawachi shook his head. "Good. You're_ sane_. All the rest I've met around h-here are the p-polar opposite." He stuttered, trying to hold back anymore sobs, but failing to do so as he tried to wipe at his face with the back of his left hand. He sat up, holding his head in both hands as he continued. "I don't know how I got here. A-All I know was that I was going to get some sleep and I was taking sleeping pills and-and-"

"Sleeping pills?" Kawachi interrupted, confused.

Meister gave a quick nod. "I-I..." He paused, doing his best to compose himself before he continued. "I've haven't been sleeping well in the past month, so I though trying some of those sleeping pills you can get at the drugstore would work..." He stopped speaking for a moment, and Kawachi just knew that he probably shouldn't press any further on the issue.

Kawachi knew that this next question was probably going to send Meister straight back to tears and sobbing again, but he had to know.

"What happened to you after that?"

Meister bit his lip, pausing before speaking. "Monica. Shachihoko. Well, it wasn't _them, _exactly...But they looked so similar. I don't even know how I got into this attire," He gestured to the dress he wore, "Why I'm wearing this makeup," He pointed at his messy face, "Or why I'm even in this location. I don't...Know..." He hesitated before speaking again, a sob escaping his mouth. "They considered chopping off my head, forced me to eat their sweets that I _swear _taste like blood, and...I cracked." He then broke into a few more sobs, and put his hands to his face.

Kawachi really wished he had a handkerchief on hand right now. It would really help dry those tears and remove the terribly messy makeup. He didn't just want to stand here, unsure of how to console the older man; he wanted to figure out what was going on, what he could do about the current situation and how the heck they were going to get out of here-

"Oh?" The two turned to the door, to see a tall silhouette of a person in the doorway. The voice was completely similar to Meister's own voice. "Ah...So the little teenager is finally awake. And...my other has hopefully gotten his senses back? Curiouser and curiouser, that's how things will continue to be."

The figure stepped into the room, and Kawachi stared at her, no, _him._

His face looked exactly the same as Meister's own, save for the fact that he wasn't wearing any makeup except for possibly blush and pale pink lipstick. His light blue eyes matched Meister's own pair of eyes as well, and the same went for the body proportions, too. He wore a dress of light blue silk, too, but Kawachi noticed there were brown (_blood?) _stains on the dress.

A gentle smile appeared on the Meister-look-alike's face as he gazed at them gently, and Kawachi noticed Meister cringe as the smile formed, just like when Kawachi first saw Yukino face-to-face and noticed Tsukino cringing in the exact same manner.

"Well? Don't you have any words to say, like...'Who in the bloody world are you?' or a simple 'Who are you?' Don't you have anything to say, boy?" The Meister-look-alike seemed to giggle slightly before continuing. "If you don't realize already, my name is...Alice." He casually walked over to them, and his smile widened before turning into a smirk.

Oh crap. Kawachi hadn't expected a counterpart of Meister to act as Alice. Then again, since Monica's counterpart was the Mad Hatter and Shachihoko's counterpart being the March Hare, Kawachi should have realized that anything can happen here by now. Anything.

"Come oooonnnn..." Alice crooned quietly as he leaned close to Meister, who trembled a bit at this action, "You can't be sobbing like that all the time. There's tons to do around here in Wonderland, and your tear-dripping face won't suit it. What happened to the pretty face you were able to give earlier?" Meister appeared to blush, and Alice let out an odd giggle again before gently grasping a few long strands of Meister's hair and kissing them. "No need to be shy, Sylvan..."

Kawachi knew that this wasn't going to reassure him in any way. Instinctively, just like when he'd first met Yukino, he grabbed Alice's wrist. Alice just simply turned to look at him, confusion overtaking his face.

"You should stop." Kawachi spoke firmly. "Meister doesn't like it." Meister just looked at Kawachi in awe and surprise as Alice hesitated for a moment, and then gently pulled his arm away from Kawachi's grip and Meister's hair before holding his wrist with one hand.

"And if I don't want to?" Alice asked after a moment of silence as his eyes just simply stared at Kawachi.

Kawachi's facial expression answered that question for him.

Alice let out a quiet sigh, eyelids fluttering as he let go of his wrist and took out a handkerchief out of nowhere. "Alright, alright...I won't try to do anything that makes him, ah, uncomfortable..." He paused for a moment before continuing. He leaned forward, starting to wipe Meister's face with the handkerchief. "Though I hope you don't mind if I help you get out of that makeup. And," He continued as he first wiped off the ruined lipstick, "That I help you get into more comfortable attire, Sylvan. I don't think the corset underneath your dress is good for you to wear for so long..."

Kawachi's eyes widened slightly at the last statement. Meister had been wearing a corset underneath his dress, and Kawachi hadn't noticed it at all. Now that was even more odd... But then again, what was odder was Alice's behaviour. At first, he seemed to appear as the more dominating type of person, even trying to seduce the Meister just now, but then he seemed to switch to someone just willing to help his counterpart get through what was going on.

Something just didn't seem right, and Kawachi had a feeling that it was pointing all towards Alice.

"What's your game?" Kawachi asked Alice, suddenly suspicious. "Why do you want to help Meister so much when you made him uncomfortable just now? It doesn't make any sense..."

Alice paused in the middle of wiping ruined mascara off Meister's face, turning to Kawachi. "What's my game, you ask?" He spoke up. His head tilted to the side, and a small smile graced his lips. "My game is...To simply continue interacting with my lovely counterpart here. To see what sort of reactions he makes. And so far, some of his reactions to what I've done so far are very pretty, cute, and...interesting, in my opinion." He let out a quick giggle. "I've even kissed him already. Isn't he a cutie?"

Kawachi opened his mouth to say something, but Meister beat him to it first.

"Alice..." Meister trailed off, pausing before continuing. "I appreciate that you prevented the Hatter and Hare from chopping my head off." It was obvious that he'd calmed down a little bit and gotten back to his senses from the period of tears and sobs. "But please, I ask you, is there a way out of here? Is there a way for Kawachi-san and I to...Get back to where we came from?" He gently took the handkerchief from Alice and wiped his face the best he could with it, eliminating most of the ruined makeup.

It was a sudden change of topic, and Kawachi had no idea why the heck Meister butted in now, of all places in the conversation. But Alice seemed fine with it, and without a hesitation he spoke in reply.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if anyone knows. All I really know is that you have to find it."

Kawachi let out a sigh. As if that was going to help...

Meister and his look-alike went behind a nearby changing screen shortly, and...

Kawachi had an incredibly difficult time trying not to look at the sihlouettes behind the dark blue screen.

It was kind of weird, watching them, since the shadows were the exact same; like twins except maybe creepier. It was hard to distinguish which one was which until one of them let out a soft giggle as the other let out a sigh and looked down at the dress he wore.

It was a...tantalizing obscuration to watch, for lack of better words to put it.

The two stepped out from behind the screen, and Kawachi realized they were wearing blue silk nightgowns, and the only way he could tell the difference between the two was that Meister still had some ruined makeup on his face still.

"Oh..." Alice quickly wiped Meister's face, eliminating the makeup, before smiling. "There we go. Much better!" He remarked.

"I do agree that this is more comfortable, especially that the corset is gone." Meister spoke to Alice. "But...Is there anything a tad more masculine, possibly?"

"Well..." Alice looked at him carefully. "I highly doubt that you'll fit in the Hare's clothes. I doubt you'd like them, even, since they usually have bloodstains. You'll have to stick with this for now." He turned to Kawachi. "Should I still be under the assumption that you don't trust me?" He asked.

"Yes." Kawachi answered immediately. Just because Alice was trying to make things more comfortable for Meister didn't mean that he was going to help anyone.

"Aww...Too bad..." Alice paused, before walking towards the door. "I'll just sleep in March's room tonight. You two can sleep here, so goodnight." The door shut quietly as he left, and Meister and Kawachi just exchanged glances.

They didn't really know if they should trust Alice, who Kawachi deemed as incredibly insane, or any of the other weird, kooky people they encountered so far. All they knew was that they were stuck in this world, and they had to find a way out for sure.

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**Author note: ...That didn't end as well as I was hoping for...**

**Hopefully, this was okay, and I hope you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for reading! **


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